Cast and engraved silver seal matrix of Peter Stuyvesant; circular matrix engraved with the arms of the Stuyvesant family, a running stag below a hound chasing a hare in a shield, shield surmounted by the family crest, a demi-stag jumping out of a prince's crown, and foliate scrolls; feathered border around the edge with an inscription along the border; engraved in Latin, "S. PET: STUYVESANT: N: BELGII ET CURACO. INS. GUBERNATOR" [Seal of Peter Stuyvesant, Director General of New Netherland and Curacao] in roman letters; cylindrical hinge applied vertically down the reverse; double s-scroll topped by a loop, applied to the hinge.

Gallery Label:

When Peter Stuyvesant (1611/12-1672) arrived in May 1647 to assume his duties as director general of New Netherland, he brought this newly minted Dutch seal matrix. Few documents survive with this seal, which was probably made not long after May 1645, when Stuyvesant was selected by the Dutch West India Company to succeed director Willem Kieft. The absence of examples of this seal on surviving official documents raises the possibility that Stuyvesant used this matrix primarily for purposes of identification and security, and used the official seal of New Netherland as a mark of authorization.

Bibliography:

Krohn, Deborah, Peter Miller, and Marybeth De Filippis, eds., "Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick." New York: Bard Graduate Center, New-York Historical Society, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009, p. 177-178

Credit Line:

Gift of Robert Van Rensselaer Stuyvesant

Provenance:

Peter Stuyvesant (1611/12-1672), who married Judith Bayard (1608-1685); to their son Nicolaes Willem Stuyvesant (1648-1698), who married (2nd) Elizabeth Van Slichtenhorst (1652-1738); to their son Gerardus Stuyvesant (1691-1777), who married Judith Bayard (1685-1751); to their son Petrus Stuyvesant (1727-1805), who married Margaret Livingston (1738-1818); to their son Nicholas William Stuyvesant (1769-1833), who married Catherine Livingston Reade (1777-1867); to their son Peter Stuyvesant (1796-1860), who married Julia Rebecca Martin (b. 1805); to their son Robert Van Rensselaer Stuyvesant (1838-1918), the donor.

Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.